The present invention relates to wireless remote control transmitters of the type typically used to control the operation of one or more consumer entertainment electronics appliances, such as television sets, video cassette recorders, stereo systems and the like.
Wireless remote control transmitters of the type typically used to control the operation of consumer entertainment electronics appliances are well known in the art. Typically, such transmitters are hand-held devices comprising an elongated generally rectangularly shaped housing having a front, a back, a top end, a bottom end and a pair of sides, the housing containing a printed circuit board having electronics including an infrared LED, a keyboard having a plurality of function-selection keys, the keys being actuable from the front of the housing and one or more batteries for providing power for the transmitter. In use, actuation of a selected key on the keyboard causes a correspondingly coded optical signal to be transmitted from the infrared LED through an opening in the top end of the housing to a receiver in the targeted electronic appliance. Typically, the front of the housing is considerably wider than the sides to accommodate the arrangement of a plurality of keys.
Additional information relating generally to wireless remote control transmitters may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,006 to Collins et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,647 to Collins et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,847 to Zato, U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,848 to Ehlers, U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,979 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,084 to Skinner.
Wireless remote control transmitters as described above are typically held in a user's hand by resting the back of the housing against the user's index finger while inward pressure is applied to sides of the housing using the user's thenar eminence and thumb on one side and the remaining fingers on the opposite side. With the unit thus in the user's hand, operation thereof is typically effected in one of two ways: (1) by having the user move his thumb from the side of the housing to the front of the housing and then depressing one of the keys on the front using the bottom surface or the inner side surface of the user's thumb or (2) by having the user hold the unit in one hand in the manner described above while manipulating the keys on the front of the housing using a finger on his other hand.
As can readily be appreciated, the manipulation and operation of a transmitter in the ways described above can become rather cumbersome and difficult after prolonged periods of time, particularly for those people who use the remote control transmitter to frequently change the channel and/or to adjust the volume of a television set. Moreover, particularly for those people who use a remote control unit while in a reclining or similar position, these problems are further exacerbated by the fact that the top end of the housing must be pointed in the direction of the device being controlled during actuation of one of the control keys to ensure that the light emitted from the transmitter will be detected by a corresponding receiver in the device being controlled. Finally, in addition to the aforementioned problems, in those instances in which the transmitter is held in one hand and is controlled by actuating the keys on the front of the unit using one's thumb as described above, attempts to actuate a desired key with the thumb are often unsuccessful due to the lack of sensitivity and the limited range of motion inherently associated with the human thumb.
An alternative way that is sometimes employed to hold and operate the above-described remote control transmitter with one hand is to hold the housing with the back facing down using the thumb on one side and the outer three fingers on the opposite side. The keys on the front may then be actuated with the user's index finger. One difficulty with this technique is that the unit is not well supported in the user's hand; consequently, the unit may be dropped or may pivot downwardly when downward pressure is applied to actuate the keys. This technique also suffers from the same problems of fatigue and awkwardness associated with the other techniques described above.